Among all the positives of the Laver Cup, the downside is the lie.
The organisers, the broadcasters, even the ATP, mislead every time they call it a tournament, when in truth it is nothing more than an exhibition: players don’t earn ranking points, and the entry system is entirely arbitrary.
What on earth is Holger Rune thinking when he claims that for many of his colleagues the Laver Cup is their favourite event, even more than the Grand Slams?
A scripted, absurd and unprofessional statement. He can sell that line to his aunt.
Another untruth: that matches there count as official in players’ head-to-head records.
Put simply, without hype or pretence, the Laver Cup is a great event that brings real appeal to tennis.
It takes place in major stadiums packed because Federer and company manage to draw the big names. The format, inspired by golf’s Ryder Cup, delivers something that tennis had been losing: team competition.
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Seeing players on the same team who spend the rest of the year competing against each other individually is, of course, refreshing. It was fascinating to see Nadal on the bench giving advice to Federer, and vice versa. Watching a player share tactical keys with the very rival he battles fiercely all season long is a stroke of genius. Perhaps we’ll see the same with Alcaraz and Sinner in the future. It would be fun.
The moments of humour are also appreciated, though at times they cross the line. People who buy a ticket to an exhibition want to see players competing at their best, not clowning around. This edition featured good tennis, to be fair, but there have also been times when the Laver Cup has felt more like a circus than real tennis—especially when Kyrgios was around.
Hopefully, over time, the event will continue to grow in importance and be refined to take on a more serious tone. Ideally, it would resemble the Ryder Cup, being played this weekend in New York with the United States hosting Europe.
But to reach that level, some things would have to change. And it should start with calling it what it really is: the Laver Cup, Team Europe versus Team World, is the best tennis exhibition on the planet.
